Cafe Irani Chai

Café Irani
Chai:

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To Stir With
Love!

Buy
Line/ Ravi
V.Chhabra

Emigrations have
been a part of human civilization since recorded
history. The refugees, a term used ofttimes for
emigrants, have always brought huge wealth with
them in a myriad forms – be it art,
exemplary hard work, culture, etiquette, cuisine
or of simply spreading love and compassion in
people’s lives.

The Iranians are a
perfect embodiment of all these. Here’s a
bit of that story of Dr. Mansoor Showgi Yezdi
– his film “Café Irani
Chai” is the story where his
forefathers brought with them the unique combo of
Irani chai and backed it up with the ‘bun
maska’ or 'brun maska' - lovingly touching
the lives/palates of millions of Indians,
especially those in Bombay (read Mumbai), Pune and
Hyderabad for decades.

“My Grandfather
Late Haji Mohammed Showghi Yezdi came to Mumbai in
1890 on foot from the faraway Yazd - a province in
Iran at the time when famine had gripped that
beautiful province. He was not educated and he
didn't excel in any art-form either. But he had
the confidence to succeed with his resolve for
hard work. He started his journey with a group of
friends and family, all of them landing in Mumbai
with little food and no money in their
pockets.

They were sure even
before they reached the Indian shores that they
would be welcomed with open arms as guests of
Hindustan or as they say ‘Attithi Devo
Bhava’. Even though they came to
Mumbai after walking for nearly seven to eight
months in grueling circumstances but once they
reached they were all too pleased with their
decision. At first, there was a lot of struggle
and mighty effort to do well financially as they
were with empty pockets but their confidence in
humanity and good intentions for the host city,
they decided they would start a small enterprise
that would bring a bonding of the two
cultures.

The group would meet in
the evenings and discuss about their country Iran
and would serve tea to the gathering and elicit a
tiny sum for it and that was the beginning of a
small business idea to start selling tea, and in
this way they became famous as Irani
chaiwalas.

Before becoming the
owners of many Irani Restaurants, they had to
struggle to earn money for buying a hotel or a
restaurant. Some Iranians starting working in the
restaurants which were owned by the Iranis who had
migrated earlier from Yazd and Kerman, but my
grandfather was a bit unique; he started selling
tea in a kettle with a ‘sigdi’ beneath
it to keep tea warm on the pavements of Apollo
Bunder, opposite the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel.

During the entire
nights, he would beckon the tea lovers:
‘IRANI CHAI IRANI CHAI IRANI CHAI’ and
after packing off with the sales, he had a
munificent sleep on the footpath. He saved
from his hard-earned money and bought himself a
restaurant called: Prince of Wales and thus became
to be known as the great Irani Chaiwala.
Thereafter, most Yazdi or Kermani who came down
became the true ambassadors of this beverage and
were called Irani Chaiwalas.

They learned the art of
baking bread from the Goans who full-heartedly
helped the Iranians hone the skill. With their
sincerity and friendly nature, the Iranians became
as close as family members of Indians who lived
near their restaurant. Many Indians developed
complete trust and used to keep their money with
the Iranis and would confide with their deepest
secrets and family goings-on. The Iranian Chai
Cafes are an embodiment and symbolic of meeting of
Iranian culture and love with Indian hospitality
and its inherent secularism and
openness”.

Here’s an insight into the genius
mind of documentary film-maker Mansoor
Showghi Yezdi:

Fnbworld:When did your family migrate from
Persia/Iran to India and what necessitated
it?

Showghi:
My grandfather migrated from Yazd a province in
Iran because of the famine which had taken place
much earlier. He migrated to Hindustan in the year
1890 with some of his fellow countrymen and
friends walking all the way from Yazd to Mumbai
which took them around 7 to 8 months. He was
around 15 to 16 years of age. He settled down in
Mumbai as it was a commercial center then and
cotton mills were at their peak and the workers
who worked in the mills would leave their families
behind, so it was necessary for them to have their
food and Irani chai in the
restaurants.

Fnbworld:What is the origin of this bun or ‘brun
maska’ and Irani chai? Is this not the Assam
tea and is not the bun/brun a Goan adaptation? How
many Irani Chai Cafés have been in business
since and we do understand there’s a decline
now…

Showghi:
The Iranis who came down from the
province of Yazd and Kerman were familiar with
baking and they baked some of the best nans in the
world, but brun and bun were new to them. At that
time, the Goans were into bakery business and
being a caring and loving people they taught these
Iranis how to bake bun and brun. The Iranis soon
learnt the trade with the help of their Goan
friends and soon started experimenting with the
combinations like adding maska to the bun and brun
and sprinkling sugar on the top.

The hot buns and the
melting Polson maska with sugar created magic in
itself and this became a new creation which became
a great hit overnight. The real Irani chai is
without milk but when the Iranis came to India
they saw the Britishers enjoying their cup of tea
with milk and to make it popular they started
experimenting and they came out with a hit, for
example ten litres of milk were boiled till it
became half as condensed, tea was separately
boiled with sugar.

Noteably, the Darjeeling
tea was never used, instead, they went in for the
Assamese tea and that also the second flush
leaves, though a little bit costly but it had a
great flavour and good colour. The three main
cities for the Iranis were Mumbai, Pune and
Hyderabad and a few here and there in Gujarat like
Baroda and Ahmedabad. Irani restaurants at its
peak were altogether around a thousand in the
three cities but now the number is hardly around
200 to 250.

Fnbworld:When and how did you conceive the idea of a
documentary on these cafes and what is your role
in the film? Has it been screened in Iran and what
plans to popularize it?

Showghi:
Being an Iranian myself and coming from the same
community I saw and heard from my father the story
of the Yazdis and Kermanis how they came how they
struggled how they made a name for themselves. How
they won the hearts of their Indian brothers and
sisters and how they became the part and parcel of
this great society. I wanted to show the world
what true love means and how the Indians proved
that guest is godlike or atithi devo bhava. When
our ancestors came over to India they were given
respect and love. I wanted to highlight this true
love between Indians and the Iranians. I have
directed the documentary. It is going to be
screened in Iran and worldwide wherever my Iranian
and Indian brothers and sisters live.

Showghi:
The Parsis were keen in putting up their
profession as their surname for example those in
nut and bolt business put their surname as
Screwala or those having a rubber factory or
something to do with rubber were known as
Rubberwala or those into aerated water were known
as soda Waterwala or those who were official
dealers in guns or pistols were known as
Bandookwala so on.

Fnbworld:
How are Indian people
perceived by the Iranians? How often do you visit
there? Any relatives in Iran now?

Showghi:
Indians treated Iranians as their own as they are
branches of the same tree with the great belief in
atithi devo bhava guest are god made them love and
respected the Iranians. The Iranians love Indians.
My cousins are in Iran and I have an uncle over
there.

Fnbworld:Can you tell us something about Iranian
cuisine, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian and
what is the restaurant scenario in Iran and how
they take to Indian spicy food? Do Iranians drink
alcohol and what’s their favourite
beverage?

Showghi:
Iranian dishes are less spicy and they love their
food like chelo kabab, chelo murg, joojeh kabab,
haleem, osh, kookoo, zereshkh polou, aab ghoosht
and kalleh paacheh etc. There are many Indian
restaurants in the cities and Iranians love Indian
spicy dishes. Iran being an Islamic country hard
drinks are prohibited.

Fnbworld:What about your education?

Showghi:I had
my schooling from St. Michael's High School,
Mahim, Mumbai and did my Doctorate in
Literature.